HEBREW WORD STUDY – DANCE FOR JOY – CHUL חול Cheth Vav Lamed.
Lamentations 3:26: “It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.”
This is an interesting thought. We should wait and hope for the salvation of the Lord. I thought we are to know that we are saved, not hope that we are saved. As a good Baptist if someone responded that he hoped he was saved you would have that person on their knees saying the sinner’s prayer. You don’t hope to be saved, you believed you are saved. Waiting to be saved? What about II Corinthians 6:2: “Behold now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.” Oh my gosh, what if you wait and you die while waiting to be saved? No sir, you should not wait to be saved, strike while the iron is hot.
Of course I am making a common mistake that we over anxious Baptist make, assuming that this verse is speaking of your soul salvation. In this context it is not. Lamentations is believed to be written by Jeremiah. This salvation is physical not spiritual. The word used for salvation here is yashua which means victory or deliverance. It could be a reference to a spiritual salvation but the context tells us it is a reference to the destruction of Jerusalem and the salvation that is being offered when the attack by the Babylonians comes.
Even so why is Jeremiah saying to wait for your salvation? The word wait is dumah which does not really mean to wait so much as to just stop what you are doing and be quiet. The word hope is chul which means to spin in a circle. How translators get the idea of hope from chul is beyond me. I mean some people accuse me of stretching a word to reach a desired conclusion. Well, I may stretch a meaning here and there but I am just considering possible modern English words which might give the same idea but in a way that 21st English speaking man might comprehend it better. But to get hope from chul is not a stretch, it is a jump. Many modern translations just ignore the word chul completely with no explanation as to why. The reason why they overlook this word is how do you include the idea of spinning around in a circle in this verse?
Would you like Chaim Bentorah as your personal Hebrew teacher?
|
|
Chul is a word for dancing and celebrating. It is to dance for joy. In ancient times little children would chul when worshipping God. David chul before the Ark of the Covenant and his wife was upset with him for acting childish. David’s reply was classic (literally); “I will play with God if I want to.”
I remember when I was invited to speak at a church. I went up to the balcony during the worship service just to watch the people rejoice in the Lord. I saw little girl, about 3or 4 years old, run out into the aisle and begin to spin around like a top looking up to heaven with pure joy on her face. Ah, therein lies the translator’s problem with chul. If you were to properly translate chul in this verse you would say: “It is good – tov – in harmony with God that a man should stop what he is doing and quietly spin around in a circle in pure joy for the salvation of the Lord.”
You see, Jeremiah’s message was, “Hey, it is already decreed by God that the Babylonians will take you into captivity, so don’t fight it. Just surrender and let God take care of you in your captivity.” This is exactly what God did for those who just worshipped God. Word reached the Babylonians about this message of Jeremiah and they gave him special honors when they invaded Judah because they thought he was on their side. Actually, he was on God’s side and God protected him.
There are Christians who believe that if their candidate does not win the next Presidential election we will be going into some sort of captivity period or there will be another surge in the pandemic and then the economy will collapse into a great depression. Or they may even come down with Covin 19 and possibly die. I’ve got news for you, whatever will happen has already been decreed by God. The election has already been decided by God.
There is an old rabbinic story about a poor farmer and his family. It seems when he received bad news like a draught or good news like a good crop, he would always reply: “It may be good it may be bad, but we will just sing and dance and praise the Lord.”
I believe Jeremiah has a message for you. Just relax, and chul,- just sing and dance praise the Lord.
Hi there! Thank you for reading this Daily Word Study. Can I ask a favor? Share this Daily Word Study with your friends on Facebook and Twitter by clicking one of the icons below.
Thanks & Blessings, it means a lot to me!
Can you please clarify: Strongs says That “hope” here is H3175 yachiyl. Where did you get chul?
Hello Dana
Strongs only takes you so far. To understand that Chaim is referring to the root word is part of understanding the very fundamental structure of the language, which is very different than English. Chaim teaches the fundamentals along with the beautiful nature of the language that is so unique to any other at our Learning Channel: HebrewWordStudy.com
https://www.hebrewwordstudy.com.
The course is simple yet comprehensive. There are also 3 live meetings (which are recorded) weekly which includes a Hebrew & Aramaic workshop and so much more. It’s worth looking into and we hope to see you there : )
I bumped into this site while searching for a scripture. Thanks so much. Several months ago I had a dream or vision it said 69 Hope. I didn’t understand but now I do. I am just coming out of several years of tribulation, God has repositioned me by commanding that I “return to the land of my fathers. I did. I will be 69 yrs in a few months and I believe that God is saying that He has turned my mourning into dancing. The number 69 that I saw in the dream had appeared to be spinning!!!
That’s wonderful! I have done a course about dreams on our Learning channel at HebrewWordStudy.com https://www.hebrewwordstudy.com https://www.hebrewwordstudy.com that you may be interested in checking out.
I really liked this devotional! It provides the true meanings of words to properly understand what the passage is conveying. I have shared this site with my small Bible study group.
Hi Chaim,
Thanks for the devotion.
I checked the NASB and indeed the word ‘hope’ is omitted.
It is in the KJV, but strangely, there are two Hebrew words in Strong’s for it. One is ‘Chul’ as you have explained, the other is ‘yaw-kheel’ which is translated as ‘expectant’
Is there any reason why there are 2 words here?
Are they both in the original text?
Rgds,
SC
Hello SC
Strongs only takes you so far. To understand that Chaim is referring to the root word is part of understanding the very fundamental structure of the language, which is very different than English. Chaim teaches the fundamentals along with the beautiful nature of the language that is so unique to any other at our Learning Channel: HebrewWordStudy.com
https://www.hebrewwordstudy.com
The course is simple yet comprehensive. There are also 3 live meetings (which are recorded) weekly which includes a Hebrew & Aramaic workshop and so much more. It’s worth looking into and we hope to see you there : )
Oh to keep this the focus always! Since God has saved my soul, what more do I need to worry over but to just trust, obey, and worship?!
Thank you Chain for the lessons you teach . The words “let go and let God ” works well with this lesson and in my 78 years of life I have learned this holds true. It doesn’t mean to stop praying ,but to stop worrying .
I must say that I feel sorry for Michal in this lesson . She lost so much and she was angry at David for dancing naked in front of young girls . What wife wouldn’t be angry ? Read her story. It is truly sad in my mind.
Does Scripture say David danced naked before little girls? It says he wore a linen ephod. Remember the first attempt to move the ark resulting in a guy being struck dead. David was making sure he did things properly this time by wearing a linen ephod which was permitted as only the High Priest could wear the actual ephod. Can’t explain right now. To even dance naked was a pagan ritual which would have desecrated the holy ark. I would like to know how someone arrived at David dancing naked as I would like to explore that in the Hebrew. Right now I do not find that in the original Hebrew.
Amen!
I have cancer. It has been the curse and blessing of my life. It will take me home soon.The cure is more painful than the disease but the time spent with the Lord in His Word during this time has been life giving. This morning’s daily word blessed my day. I am singing, dancing and praising the God who loves me in my heart
Hello Stephanie,
thank you for sharing and we’re so happy that this devotional blessed you. You are in our prayers. Please stay in touch if possible.
With due respect to the author, I often find him literally going about in circles to explain a word and as a result I am more confused than before I begin my study of the Hebrew word. I have lost my interest after a while.
I apologize for going in circles. It is very hard to squeeze many hours of research into a 1,000 word study. People don’t understand that I do not use Strongs or a lexicon as my final authority. I spend many hours in the Talmud, Midrash and other Jewish works studying how rabbis use and translate the Hebrew which is much different than our Western Christian approach. As a result I will give a rendering which cannot be found in our normal Christian source that is used to proof text me which is Strong’s and occasionally the BDB. As the title of one of my books Beyond the Lexicon, I go beyond a lexicon’s rendering. Consequential this does take hours of research and my final rendering may differ from what you find in Strongs and in my attempt to briefly explain something that cannot be explained briefly I end up talking in circles – as I guess I am doing now. I do explain the details in our Learning Channel as Laura explained above. There I can take the time in live and recorded classes to share the procedure of how I arrive at a rendering. My daily word study is just a teaser to make you hungry for more. Again, I apologize for not being clearer.
very interesting devotional.
the only thing I am not comfortable with is “God decided part”
I thought I read in the Scripture that we have free will like I set before you life and death… choose life….
I would rather say that God knows the future from the end and our choices are not a secret to Him. So He does know the outcome of 2020 USA election
And I know that no matter who wins, He is in control and He is always good.
I did share thru a text on phone…Thank you for this word
Thank you for sharing, we appreciate it : )